Mercedes Boss: A Longer Workweeks Or Less Money

One of Mercedes-Benz’s top managers has called for a debate on labor costs in Germany, estimating that the demand is for people to work longer hours again.

“We should seriously consider the return of the 40-hour work week,” Mercedes supervisory board chairman Martin Brudermüller told the business daily Handelsblatt.

A 35-hour workweek is standard, although not legally binding, at car firms, including Mercedes-Benz, which employ under a collective agreement.

Employers and employees in the metal and electronics industry, which includes the automotive sector, will begin negotiations on a new two-year collective agreement later this year.

Brudermiller warns that labor in Germany is too expensive by international comparison.

“We no longer have an advantage over key competitors in productivity,” he said.

“We have two options: either reduce wages or make people work longer for the same pay,” said Brudermiller, who was previously managing director of the chemical industry at BASF.

He immediately added that the first option does not make sense in practice.

When asked about longer working lives, Brudermüller said that due to the ageing of the population, economic logic indicates that the German system “cannot be financed without longer working hours”.

In addition, he continued, a longer working life contributes to health and activity in later life. “Work gives people structure, participation and meaning in life.”

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